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Everest Introduction
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Day 1: Lukla to Phakding Suk and I woke up at 5 in the morning to get to Kathmandu Airport for our 7 o'clock flight to Lukla. We got to the airport on time and the weather looked good but for some reason we had to wait for what seemed to be an interminable amount of time for our flight. I was not calm because I worried that Lukla would soon cloud up and that we would not make it that day. Finally around 9:00 am did planes start taking off. We were on Shangri La airlines which has only one plane. Next time I would book on Yeti Airlines since they have three planes that go to Lukla. About 8 planes from 5 companies, all flying the same type of plane (or two types of planes) took off within minutes of each other. Our plane was probably one of the last to take off and was not close to full, maybe about 8 passengers. Once airborne however, it was pure fun. I had a window on the left (north) side of the 18-passenger plane and although the wing was partly in the way, impressive mountains in Lamjung Himal and eastwards dominated the horizon. Haze around Kathmandu gave way to crisper, pristine views as we approached Lukla. I was eager to try to pick out the massive mountain in the Khumbu region including Everest, but I knew I would have plenty of opportinities. Near Lukla, our plane passed through some clouds which was kind of scary since the pilots navigated visually with no instruments. At last we rounded the corner and Lukla with its extremely short airstrip was immediately visible. The landing strip (less than 1500 feet long) appeared impossibly short and we were coming in at what seemed to be much too great of an angle. What I hadn't remembered was that the runway was slanted upwards significantly. Seeing the pilots treat the seemingly precarious situation rather non-chalantly allowed me to relax some. On the landing we slowed down very quickly and we were there. Lukla was situated among picturesque mountainsides covered with rhododendrons. After gathering bags and a quick lunch at one of the lodges, Suk and I started the two hour walk to Phakding which was that night's stop. We flew in at 2800 meters and Phakding was located at 2600 meters. The trail sloped down at the start passing many house and terraced fields. Some white peaks were visible around noontime but swiftly it clouded up. A couple of the places where we had tea were very nice, with sun rooms and nicely crafter wood furniture. Despite appearing crowded with tourists at Lukla, the foreigners thinned out as we continued along. Many tea houses were closed completely, especially in lesser known villages. Indeed the Khumbu region was suffering the same lack of tourists as the rest of Nepal. A couple of things immediately different about the tourist clientele. First of all, many more people traveled in trekking groups including camping treks which were unheard of in Annapurna. These camping treks would camp outside despite the fact that there were empty lodges in many places. Secondly, a greater proportion of foreginers seemed to be hard core mountaineers or at least more serious trekkers. In Annapurna, I saw people who had never went trekking or done much hiking doing the Annapurna Circuit. Here, more often the trekkers were serious mountaineers in the U.S. or Europe who seemed to know what they were doing. Thirdly, there were proportionally more Americans. And lastly, people generally seemed older. All these differences did make sense. Khumbu was more costly than Annapurna (everything had to be flown in or porters had to walk a long way) and the cost of the flight ($93 each way) is somewhat prohibitive to younger backpackers. The journey from Lukla to Phakding reminded more of the Annapurna than anywhere else in the Khumbu region. Probably it was most analagous to regions around Ghandruk in Annapurna. At Phakding, Suk and I chose a lodge at the outskirts of town. The lodge was actually really nice and even had a Western toilet. In fact there was a pool table in a room attached to the lodge and a beautiful sunroom, plus a nicely furnished dining room. But it was depressing because it was fairly dank and cold that afternoon. And also, we were the only ones in the entire lodge. I tried to nap in the afternoon, but ended up reading some. A Canadian trekking group ate dinner in the lodge (but camped outside) and told of their trip to Everest Base Camp. The said it was wicked cold and fairly crowded up at the higher elevation lodges.
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